Category Archives: Linux

Promote against iTunes and Apple Music and for competitors

Promote cross-platform software that supports Linux and Windows 10 Mobile.
I promote against iTunes and Apple Music. Promote for Amazon Music, Groove Music, Google Play, Spotify, Pandora, and others. Too bad Style JukeBox was discontinued. What for? I would like it to be recontinued (have development continued again/restored).
Unfortunately, you can’t use Google Play on Windows unless you use Chrome.
iTunes is not available for Linux. Apple Music not available for Windows Phone.
Apple doesn’t play nice on platforms other than its own MacOS, iOS, and TvOS.
GNU/Linux is a great OS, better than Windows and MacOS at many things.
The more popular Apple Music becomes, the fewer people move to Linux.
Apple Music doesn’t have a web player.
iTunes also uses M4P protection, which means you can’t easily transfer iTunes music to other media players and online music lockers. Get a premium subscription with iTunes Match, so you can convert M4P to the non-protected MP3 so you can transfer it. Don’t get iTunes in the first place!
Apple is trying to push and draw people to the Apple community.
Also promote Amarok, RhythmBox, Clementine, Banshee, and others. Too bad Banshee was discontinued, I hope it will be recontinued.
I also like music players that support formats other than MP3 and AAC. Formats that are not restricted.
There are other reasons to hate iTunes and Apple Music than those I mentioned. Say some in the comment.

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Things I dislike about Linux

1. Has a strong copyleft license – GNU General Public License (GPL). So there can be no proprietary derivatives. Also, proprietary kernel modules cannot be linked to the Linux kernel.
2. C++ is forbidden in the Linux kernel. So kernel modules cannot be written in C++.
3. Monolithic kernel – not hybrid or microkernel. That means less reliability and security.

What could be better

1. Linux should be allowed to be linked to non-GPL kernel modules as long as they are GPL-compatible (including but not limited to MIT and three-clause BSD. Apache and CDDL?). I am not saying that proprietary kernel modules should be allowed to be linked. The copyleft should be softened or minimized (the only concern about softening the copyleft is that it might make loopholes).
2. Nothing really.
3. Nothing really.

The good news

1. Not as strong copyleft as GNU Affero General Publuc License (AGPL). Even AGPL is not as strong copyleft as Sybase Open Watcom Public License. Kernel modules can be dual-licensed GPL with any compatible license. I think the copyleft of Linux has an exception for binary firmware blobs. I think proprietary software can be bundled on top of GNU/Linux as long as the underlying system is open source. I think proprietary kernel modules can be linked for personal use.
2. Nothing really.
3. Linux is becoming less monolithic and more like a microkernel. Linux is getting the modular capability. So it’s no longer purely monolithic, but a modular monolithic.

Move from Windows to Linux

Get the society to do so.

Linux and UNIX will make the world a better place!

Linux is better than Windows because it’s more scalable, more flexible, more customizable, more stable, and more secure. Other advantages too. There are many things it can do that Windows can’t.
Linux is free and open source, while Windows and MacOS are proprietary commercial.
Microsoft is the biggest software company, and it shouldn’t be. Oracle should be the biggest software company. So don’t waste your money to Microsoft if you don’t want Microsoft to have fortune.
Microsoft doesn’t want you to use Google. It doesn’t want you to use Firefox and Chrome.
if you get Linux, get Ubuntu, Linux Mint, MEPIS, SUSE Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS, Fedora, MageiaOracle Linux Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel, or Linux distributions like those. Don’t get Debian, Gentoo, or Arch.
Maybe use GhostBSD or TrueOS on a tower desktop, whether vertical full tower or horizontal small form factor desktop. Maybe use Solaris/illumos (like OpenIndiana).
X11(X Window System) is standard, not Windows. Mac, Linux, and Solaris use X Window System, while Windows does not. Google is standard, not Bing. Firefox and Chrome are standard, not Internet Explorer or Edge.
Don’t get iTunes. Get an alternative that’s available for Linux. Maybe get Google Play. Or maybe get Clementine. There are other alternatives like I think Amarok. Any alternatives with a BSD or MIT license?
Don’t get Microsoft Office. Get LibreOffice or Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
Don’t use iCloud or OneDrive. Use something else like Google Drive or Dropbox. Anything else?
If only Microsoft would merge UNIX into Windows as Apple merged UNIX into MacOS. Maybe getting UNIX and Linux in the desktop would encourage Microsoft to do so.
You could dual boot Linux on a Windows laptop or desktop. Or you could use a virtual machine, for which I’d recommend VMware Workstation Player running Ubuntu on a laptop and Hyper-V running Oracle Linux UEK on an all-in-one or tower desktop. Or you could just get a Linux laptop or desktop.
The Pixelbooks is coming up with Fuchsia OS.
Apple is the biggest IT company, but it shouldn’t be. I think IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell should be bigger.
Sorry if I offended you with Don’t buy Windows again!. I reposted it here in a less offensive way.
This post may be subject to edits.
What do you think? Anything I missed? Any issues? Say so in the comment.

Edit note

I struck through some of the above because of second thoughts. I’m also thinking of reposting this on https://itrecommendationsandideas.wordpress.com/ also with updates.

UNIX home server idea

Full form factor tower
Intel quad-core i5 with vPro[1]
Intel HD graphics
16GB DDR3
UEFI firmware
Headset port
Microphone port
Ethernet
Intel dual-band wireless
Bluetooth
Two HDMI, one DVI, and one DisplayPort
One FireWire
Two USB Ports, plus four SSUSB and one eSATAp. One Mini-USB.
Blu-Ray+/-RW drive supporting four-layer Blu-Ray
1TB GPT SSHD and 128GB MBR SSD[4]
Three aux ports
In/Out telephone ports.
OpenSUSEArch[3] on 380GB Btrfs root, 620GB XFS /home, and 16GB swap on SSHD[5], and 128GB XFSext4 boot on SSD, with QEMU/KVM[6] hosting CentOSFedora on 128GB XFSext4, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS on 50GB ext4, and FreeBSD(with tcsh and FreeBSD Bootloader and Boot Manager) on 50GB UFS, each in qcow2 virtual disk format.

[1]Alternatively, quad-core Xeon.
[3]Alternatively, OpenSUSE as host. If possible, Red Hat Enterprise Linux desktop edition.
[4]Insert citation.
[5]Don’t know if swap would be in NAND flash cache. If so, ext4 would be 620GB.
[6]Otherwise, Xen. OpenSUSE would be used.

Inspired by Dell PowerEdge T130 and OptiPlex 5000; HPE ProLiant ML110 and HP EliteDesk(don’t know what model); and Lenovo ThinkCentre(again, don’t know what model) and ThinkServer TS series(again, don’t know what model).

We’d use a router and a modem with USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, DSL, and TV ports.

Anything I could add or improve?

Software:
Web:
Apache 2.2 OpenSSL
FileZillaProFTPd
PostgreSQLMySQL
Virtualization:
LXCDocker CE on Linux
FreeBSD Jail on FreeBSD
Development environmentsPlatforms:
Java
GTK
Graphics and compute API:
OpenGL
OpenCL
Graphics:
GIMPhoto with GIMP Paint Studio and GIMP Animation Package
Inkscape
Remote access:
XDMCD over OpenSSH
FreeNX
VNC
Codecs:
FFMPEG
GStreamer
LibAVCodec
Plugins:
VLC Media Player
Adobe Flash
Programming:
Python
Perl
PHP
Web browser: Firefox
Gaming: Steam

Server would serve Linux and BSD clients.

I might move this post to Computing or to a brand new blog.
Edit note: I improved some things of this note. FileZilla doesn’t support Linux.

Ideal business laptop

Mousepad and backlit keyboard
Thin but not ultra-thin
Ethernet
Intel dual-band wireless and Qualcomm Snapdragon
8GB DDR3
1TB SATA SSHD, and 128GB PCIe SSD
Two SSUSB
One eSATAp
Two HDMI and one DisplayPort
Headphone and microphone ports.
Bluetooth
14.1″ LED-backlit LCD touchscreen
Blu-Ray+/-RW drive
SD card slot
Intel quad-core i5 with vPro
Intel HD graphics
Windows 10 Pro on NTFS with Hyper-V hosting enlightened Ubuntu Unity on ext4 and emulated FreeBSD on UFS2.[6]

[6]Could just be Unix, to have OpenSUSE with FreeBSD virtual machine.

Anything for me to add? Anything to improve?

Microsoft should let people use Linux

Microsoft forces PC makers to not care about Linux and prevents people from using Linux, to hold back Linux in the desktop market… CURSE YOU MICROSOFT! Microsoft shouldn’t do that. It should just let laptop and desktop makers care about Linux and put Linux alongside Windows.
Why doesn’t Microsoft care that Linux is better and would make the world a better place? Microsoft should sacrifice Windows for Linux, or improve Windows so that it is like Linux and UNIX.
I’m talking about Self-sacrifice. Sacrifice for the good of the customers. If it wants customers to use their products, it should just improve its products, for example making Windows like Linux and UNIX(System V and BSD).